Beer: Reviews & Ratings

A - This one is a dark shade of brown with garnet highlights and a massive four finger head of fluffy foam. Retention is extremely good it takes the head a few minutes to slowly settle to a finger. A good amount of lace is left on the glass, and slowly slides into the chestnut brew.

S - Toasted marshmallows. Some woody and nutty flavors come through too. This smells like a nut brown ale more so than a porter, but that's ok...it smells really good! This smells profoundly like toasted marshmallows over a fire...I can smell the blacked edges and the gooey center.

T - This tastes a little more beefy and sausage-y than it smells, but some of the marshmallow hints remain. This is smoky and salty like beef jerky, and some burnt grains present themselves on the midpalate.

D - This was the only good brew to come from the mixed pack of very sub-par beer. I'm pleasantly surprised, and would probably pick up a six pack of this if I see it somewhere. This is almost like a Rauchbier in that it's very meaty, salty, and smoky. This would be great with some sausage or a pepperoni pizza. (1,200 characters)

Poured into mug from bottle. This beer was disapointment from the get-go. I expected a porter, and was in the mood for any porter, even a so-so one. Well, the first thing I no ticed was that the color was really thin for a porter. Translucent and dark brown. The little, soapy head disapeared quickly and the first smell was burnt nuts. Taste was not at all porterlike, very carbonated, burnt and watery. After a while, a taste of bile crept in. Mouthfeel was thin and over carbonated. Overall, a sub-par beer for any category, but especially bad for a porter. Skip this one. (576 characters)

A = Clear dense reddish brown, formed a one finger off white head which slowly dissipated leaving lacing on the glass. The color is pleasing, but it is far lighter than I expect from a porter. If this were not called a porter but a brown ale or something, I might have given it a higher score on appearance.

This beer poured black with a decent tan head and rocky bubbles. The aroma is slightly sweet and malty, but if very faint. The taste is roasted and burnt with a hint of sweetness. The mouthfeel is a bit thin for the flavors it needs to support. Overall, this is an average beer, not too difficult to drink  but perhaps a bit watered down. (340 characters)

I found this straggler in my refrigerator and poured it into a pint glass. Note: The more variety I drink the less I find nuances and the more I find huge and odd discrepancies.Appearance: The brew poured a deep brown body with spots of transparency, but not much. The body was toped off by a good sized tan head with less than good retention and very little lacing, just a spot here and there.Smell: A huge roasty aroma that was watered down.Taste: First I got a bitter hops then I got a good chuck of roast flavor then followed by a combination of both by terribly watered down.Mouthfeel: Smooth and not very exciting.Drinkability: Decent, nothing above average.Don't drink and review. (693 characters)

Pours a very dark brown with a quick rising tan head that reduces to a very thin covering. Chocolate aroma with hints of caramel and fudge. Mouthfeel is thin for a porter and somewhat oddly carbonated. Carbonation almost interferes with the initial taste. You want to push it past the front of your tongue. Thus, midway the flavors start to emerge on the palate. Mild maltiness is followed by some feint hints of chocolate and fruit. Fruitiness is pretty weak though for a porter. Finishes dry with an odd aftertaste that's hard to describe... almost like a bad homebrew. (571 characters)

My brother gave me the 18 pack holiday can for Christmas and I'll admit when I opened it I was excited, it came with a great book on the history of beer in America and everything. Two signs that my excitement would fade quickly.

1. They were twist off caps2. They were brewed in Rochester NY!! (Genny land)

This one was labeled "Porter" - not quite

A - Poured a thin black body, you could see through it when held up to the light. Teeny tiny head which disappeared with no carbonation what so ever.

S - Very faint malt / nutty aroma a bit burnt...

T - Coffee hint but not much to make you want another sip.

M - Felt like a corny / rice flat feeling on my tongue. Not very flavorful and definitely not a "porter"

D - I mean I did finish it after all! I'm just wondering who I can pawn the other 3 I have left to (maybe my brother).

This gift pack had a great presentation factor and the book (half way through) is wonderful. (932 characters)

Pretty good deep brown, ruddy red when held to the light along with a goodamount of foam give this porter a great look. But the aroma brings down my exectation. A very watery an bland smelling smoke ad bread aroma. The taste is even more dissapointing. ome ok roasty and smokey malts, but a little watery and thin o the palate. The flavors leaveyour tongue so fast, ts just dissapointing. The flavors are good, but hey don't last long enough. (442 characters)

Bottle poured into a chalice.The head is frothy and dense. It looks nice. I'd guess root beer if I was across the room.Smells like some coffee and german perles. Toasted oak is quite present. Nothing offensive or overpowering. Im growing more surprised by this porter every second that goes by.Tastes like it smells. Nothing veiled or hidden here. It is what it is.Mouth feel falls a bit short for me. It's not bad really but feels like a brown ale, not a porter.Drinkability; too drinkable for a porter. I should'nt be able to drink 12 pints of porter but I believe I could drink 12 of these " entry level porters. (620 characters)

Presentation: I received this as part of a mixed 18 pack for my birthday. They were all in a galvanized bucket with a book about American beer. Pretty cool looking, I guess I am easy to buy for. This is in a brown bottle with an older looking label, almost looks like a poster.

Appearance: Pours with 2 inches of light tan foam. This settles quickly into a thin layer of foam and minimal lacing. The beer itself is dark brown with just a hint of red. You can easily see though it when held to the light, a little light.

Inky black with a foamy white head on it. Not much on the smell. A very light chocolate scent, but not much else, and not too strong.

Tastes about the same. It's smooth, it's a tiny bit malty with some chocolate flavors, but it's fairly weak. A fairly pedestrian porter, but as I've had some truly terrible ones, this one gets a few points simply for not having any weird flavors to it. (388 characters)

Serving from a 12 oz. bottle, part of the "Beers of America" sampler pack (6 varieties - 2 of each). All contract brewed by Minhas Brewery of NY (I know it says Wisconsin on BA, but the bottle says brewed in NY!)

The pour produces a nearly opaque chocolate brown colored beer. The smallish head dissipates rapidly, and virtually no lacing is evident. Disappointing.

The nose holds a whiff of molasses, caramel and perhaps licorice, but its very light.

The taste follows the nose, with molasses being the primary taste. A lack in malt character contributes to the lack of body and mouthfeel ... particularly noticeable for this style. By the end of the glass, the mouthfeel is close to that of water. The finish is dry and bland. I'm wondering if I even drank a beer? Can't give a very good mark for drinkability, as after one of these, I sure didn't want another sample. Fortunately, I was able to share the other sample with a fellow BA, who had similar feelings towards this beer as we sampled it together.

If you enjoy a good Porter, this isn't it. Try a Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald or an Anchor Porter, and you'll be glad you did.

Dark mahogany color. Brown head disappears within seconds. Nose is filled with sweet caramel, rosted notes and just a touch of smokiness. Taste is mostly roasted bitterness. This beer definitely did not age well (I had it for about a year, possibly more). It probably wasn't great to begin with, but it should've been much better fresh. Medium body. Fairly enjoyable, but not for seeking out. (392 characters)

This last of the "Beers of America" series comes wrapped in an attractive label looking like an important document with an eagle. Unfortunately, the rest of the beers in the twelve-pack were mostly fair at best interpretations of the style so I'm not holding out hope that this is similar to a Sierra Nevada or Anchor version of the style.

Color is dark but thin looking with almost no head to speak of. Nose is sweet with touches of chocolate malts and caramel. Not terribly appetizing as it is somewhat artificial leaning.

Taste has an initial rush of sweet malt that got me hoping but it soured from there with overcarbonation and a finish that just kind of quietly dies instead of lasting for a half minute or more. Just not much of a proper porter at all, really. (776 characters)

Almost smells like a red wine. Heavy alcohol smell, almost like a liqueur.

Has a sweet, light flavor with only a hint of coffee bitterness.

Very light for a porter. Almost watery, but pleasant. Very very light bodied. Not porter-like, but also not bad. Feels like a heavier-than-normal ale, not a porter. Easy to drink, but not really porterish. (427 characters)

Wet chocolate labrador brown that becomes dusky ruby with orange edges when backlit. Atop the beer is a modest head of malted milk colored foam that has a rumpled surface and a semi-tacky look. As it falls, it begins to deposit lace in a pattern resembling a jagged king's crown.

The nose is way too underpowered and is uninteresting besides. I can appreciate little more than the molasses that the brewery added so that the beer would be authentically colonial. It's minimally dark malty, along the lines of a Euro dark lager; not exactly the style that a porter should emulate.

It's obvious from the first sip that Piedmont Porter is on the lighter end of the porter spectrum. In fact, it's hanging off the edge and is threatening to fall off. There's an inexcusably pathetic amount of malt in this beer and it's becoming more and more obvious that those Euro dark lager comparisons weren't that far off the mark.

An acceptable amount of flavor finds purchase on the taste buds, but it isn't good flavor, so what's the point? Again, a glimmer of molasses is appreciated. There can't be much though since it isn't all that noticeable in a beer that doesn't have much else to provide flavor. Not only that, but there's very little sweetness to be had.

Given the lack of barley, it isn't a surprise that the body is the biggest loser of all. The beer seems to vanish in the mouth as soon as it makes contact, becoming watery at the midway point rather than waiting until the finish. Actually, if the truth were known, it starts out watery. A lackluster amount of carbonation doesn't help.

This is not good beer. It takes a hell of a lot more than a traditional ingredient like molasses, very little of which was utilized anyway, to brew a beer that is interesting as well as good. I'm pretty sure that ale lovers in Colonial America would have laughed Piedmont Porter right out of the tavern. (1,907 characters)

Piedmont porter was a clear dark brown color with a light tan head. The head was soon reduced to only a thin layer. The aroma was fairly light, but dark malts were noticeable. The taste was of dark malt as well with a slightly bitter, dry finish. The mouthfeel was a little thin with decent carbonation. Average drinkability. While this is not a bad beer, there are alot of better porters out there. (420 characters)

12oz bottle poured out a dark borwn or even black color. It had a small tan head.Smells of coffee and roasted malt.It tasted slightly bitter and the coffee/malt flavor faintlycomes through, as well. It had a soft mouthfeel.It's drinkable but it is just a little weak for a porter. (284 characters)

Malty Sweetness, Slight Hint of Chocolate, Raisins, Sherry and almost no hop aroma.

Appearance: Deep Ruby Red, Slight off White Head not Brown and Not Tan.

Flavor: Slight Roasted - not overpowering, Caramel malt maybe followed by delicate sherry, raisin, toffee flavors. Slight hop bitterness. I thought this beer described the Maillard Reaction (The Maillard Reaction is a complex series of chemical reactions initiated when "reducing sugars" react with free amino nitrogen. Maillard Reaction is responsible for the formation of a wide array of aromas including toffee, caramel, toast, nutty, raisin-like and sherry.

Mouthfeel: Medium Body and Medium Carbonation.

Overall Impression: Very drinkable and Smooth. The Bottle says it's brewed with brown sugar and it gets some of the different flavors from the brown sugar. I could for sure drink a few of these. This beer is the definition of the Maillard Reaction in my book. (936 characters)

The Piedmont Porter pours from the 12oz bottle a deep garnet/brown color with a small wispy eggshell head that quick falls to a ring around the brew. When held up to the light I get a deep crystal clear garnet, hmmm, porter you say? Aromas being with lots of roasted grain coupled with a nice sweetness. Some faint herbal hops floating around in there as well as a subtle note of licorice and cocoa.

First sip brings a light roasted maltiness with a slightly rough grainy aspect. A touch of chocolate, molasses and licorice weave in and out of the brew. Flows down with a very shallow herbal hoppiness. Kinda sweet overall with only a kiss of bitterness on the end. Clean, crisp and easy drinkin.

Mouthfeel is rather thin and a bit creamy with fast moving bubbles. Goes down quite easily, but fails to give me the body I'm looking for in a porter. This is supposed to be an example of an early colonial version of a porter, but having no real knowledge of the beer in those times I can't say how close it is. I can say it doesn't hold a candle to the porters of today! Drinkability is good if you're looking for an easy drinkin brew. Comes off more as a dark lager. Give it a try if you run across it but I wouldn't seek it out! (1,234 characters)

Pours a very dark brown, with a light tan head that quickly receded. Beer is very clear. First whiff is of roasted malt. I can detect no hop aroma. First taste is again malty, primarily roasted malt flavors. Has a sharp character to it, and a sweetness you would expect from a beer brewed with extract, and it detracts from this beer. (401 characters)

Poured from the 12oz. black bottle into a tulip pint glass the beer was a dark, dark brown but not quite black color. A half-finger tan head formed but did little to leave any lacing. No other signs of carbonation.

The nose had some roasted malt, slight chocolate, brown sugar sweetness, and some mild coffee. Suprised by the aromas because the other beers in this mixed 12 pack "days of past beer revival" thing were rather weak in the nose.

The the taste too exceeds the other beers in this pack. A roasted (perhaps better described as toasted) malt taste with hints of sugary sweetness, cocoa powder, and coffee with cream. Smooth and balanced, no bitterness and no hop character.

The beer was a little weak on body but had a semi-firm mouthfeel with a slick creaminess to it. Little carbonation.

Of all the beers in the variety pack, this was the most enjoyable for me. It actually had some real flavors come thru and wasn't terribly bland. Albiet not a standout, it was decent enough. (1,001 characters)